1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to automotive safety. More particularly, it relates to illuminating parts of a vehicle so that it can be more easily seen in the dark or in fog or to create an illuminated signal. Most specifically, it relates to trim for car doors, car door frames, and car door window frames where the trim is luminous or luminant, i.e., reflective or illuminated by LED lights or the like.
2. State of the Art
There have been many ambitious suggestions to improve the visibility of motor vehicles in dim lighting conditions such as at night or in the fog.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,731, issued in 1992, discloses a vehicle rear window reveal molding provided with a rearwardly facing groove serving as a repository for reflective material in which the overhang of an upper leg of the groove shelters the reflective material against ultraviolet deterioration but allows clear visibility thereof in its activated state when it emits light in response to ground level light of headlights from approaching vehicles impinging on the reflective material.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,926, issued in 1996, discloses an improvement to promote safer use of an industrial van of a type having a body with right and left pivotally hinged doors usually opened preparatory to workmen working out of the rear of the van. An additional taillight is located on a cooperating edge of each of the doors in facing relation to an oncoming motorist to mark the stationary van as a road obstruction.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,702, issued in 1996, discloses an improvement for a popular dome-shaped industrial van having rear left and right doors. The improvement includes an added pair of taillights at the top of the van rear edge to which the doors are hinged. In the location noted, the tail lights are visible to an oncoming motorist when the doors are open through the clearance bounded by the outwardly diverging van rear edges and upper door edges, thus contributing to safer use during loading and unloading of the industrial van.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,755, issued in 1997, discloses a cyclops light as now mandated by law on the panel above the rear doors of a van but relocated as side-by-side lights to the inside adjacent corners of the doors. Each light is provided with a side lens so that when a door is open, as when loading and unloading the van, the light is seen through the side lens as a safety signal to a motorist approaching from the rear. The light seen through the previously used rear lens is still in use, but as a safety signal to a motorist approaching from the front in a passing lane.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,530, issued in 1997, discloses a rearwardly facing three-light display of a parked van to inform an approaching motorist if one, both or none of the rear doors are open, using to advantage lights that are illuminated in the display and also lights, although illuminated, that are not seen by the approaching motorist because of being masked from view by an open door, resulting in three possible light displays which, as a result of driver education, will inform the approaching motorist of the open and closed condition of the rear doors of the parked or stationary van.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,593, issued in 1998, discloses a cyclops light as mandated by law on the panel above the rear doors of a van but which is relocated as side-by-side lights to the inside adjacent corners of the doors and each provided with a triad lens so that, when a door is open, as when loading and unloading the van, the light now seen through the triad lens is a safety signal to a motorist approaching from the rear, and the light seen through the previously used rear lens is still in use, but as a safety signal to a motorist approaching from the front in a passing lane.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,519, issued in 1998, discloses an added visual display strip for a popular dome-shaped industrial van having rear left and right doors. There is an added visual display strip at the top of the van rear edge to which the doors are hinged, which in the location noted, are visible to an oncoming motorist when the doors are open through the clearance bounded by the outwardly diverging van rear edges and upper door edges, thus contributing to safer use during loading and unloading of the industrial van.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,770, issued in 1998, discloses taillights which are located adjacent the hinge axis of, and on van right and left doors, so that a closed door displays the taillight to traffic approaching the van from the rear. Also after a door pivotal traverse into an open condition there is a display of the taillight to traffic approaching the van from the front.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,400, issued in 1998, discloses a van rear door light display having reflectors for impinging light from headlights of approaching traffic, which reflectors are positioned rearwardly when the doors are opened, as when the van is loaded and unloaded, and are strategically at different heights on the edges of the doors to obviate contact therebetween when the doors are closed.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,429, issued in 1999, discloses a van rear door window reflective tape to provide a light display when coacting with a headlight beam of an approaching motorist that is on an inside, rather than outside, window surface so that the door of a parked van when open provides the referred-to light display and, when the door is closed and the van backed into a garage, the reflective tape coacts with a van interior rear light to provide a light display that conveys a sense of the length of the van and facilitates the parking maneuver.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,439, issued in 1999, discloses an added light display for alerting traffic passing left and right of a moving or parked van which is effected by converting an unused gap involved in the sealing of the peripheral edge against weather elements of the rearwardly facing van windows into a light display compartment for a light-reflecting strip, thus providing a supplementing light display contributing to safer use of the van at nominal expense and effort.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 8,382,350, issued Feb. 26, 2013, and discloses a luminant trim which can be seen in the dark and which is applied to overlie a portion of an inner and outer face of a car door window frame. As a result, the luminant trim reflects light both on the inside and the outside of the door.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,508, issued in 1990 to Ciro Madonia describes a trim strip suitable for attachment to surfaces requiring highlights, such as edges of vehicle moveable closures including doors and trunk lids, is provided with a light reflective surface portion to outline the edge of the moveable closure member. A decorative continuation to the strip surface can be provided that is visible on the outer surface of the moveable closures such as doors. The strip is transversely and longitudinally deformable in order to conform to the usual radii of a door or other mounting surface, and may be of metal, or plastic or other suitable construction. The strip may embody clear protective finishes to minimize ultra-violet degradation of the colored surface. The strip can serve additionally as edge bumper protection and usually incorporates a pressure sensitive adhesive on the obverse surface thereof. However, mechanical attachment may be used to attach the strip to the surface being highlighted. A surface discontinuity or ridge may be provided to separate the two adjoining visual finish surfaces. The highlight surface of the strip can incorporate, reflective or fluorescent or a combined reflective and fluorescent finish, to afford visual highlighting under predetermined lighting condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,947 issued in 1995 to Ronald E. Dupuy describes a sealing unit for a movable window of a vehicle. The sealing unit includes a one-piece, elongated, flexible sealing member having a first portion for mounting the sealing unit to a frame of a vehicle and a second portion for receiving the movable window, and a flexible, decorative trim associated with a surface of the sealing member that is viewable from the exterior of the vehicle when the sealing unit is mounted to the frame. Both the sealing member and the decorative trim are sufficiently flexible to permit the sealing unit to conform to the contour of the frame when the sealing unit is mounted to the frame in a single mounting operation to provide a substantially continuous seal between the frame and the sealing unit.
The above referenced patents may increase the visibility of a motor vehicle in the dark or fog, but as will be seen from the following description of the present invention, they have certain shortcomings.